Satellite positioning system enabled traffic determination

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to utilizing monitoring devices ( 200 ) for determining the demographics of individuals passing a particular geographic location. The monitoring devices ( 200 ) are distributed to a number of study respondents. The monitoring devices ( 200 ) track the movements of the respondents whose demographics are known. While various technologies may be used to track the movements of the respondents, at least some of the location tracking of the monitoring devices ( 200 ) utilize a satellite ( 105 ) location system such as the global positioning system (“GPS”). Geo data (movement data) collected by the monitoring devices is analyzed by a post-processing server ( 400 ) that determines the demographics of the study respondents that pass a chosen geographic location.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of application Ser. No. 12/140,936,filed Jun. 17, 2008, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.11/705,627, filed Feb. 12, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,408,502, which is acontinuation of application Ser. No. 11/366,349, filed Mar. 2, 2006, nowU.S. Pat. No. 7,176,834, which is a continuation of application Ser. No.10/318,422, filed Dec. 11, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,619, whichclaims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 60/427,904,filed Nov. 20, 2002, and Provisional Patent Application No. 60/345,908,filed Dec. 31, 2001, all of which applications are expresslyincorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention generally relates to assessing traffic past aparticular geographic location, such as a media display site. Morespecifically, the present invention is directed toward tracking thepaths of travel of individuals using a satellite positioning systemenabled device and other methods.

BACKGROUND

The media industries (print, television, radio, on-line, outdoor, andindoor) are always interested in determining their audiences so as tobetter assess the value of the products they provide to advertisers andothers. Given recent developments in the media industries, there hasbeen a renewed interest in outdoor and indoor media displays.Unfortunately, until now there has been a lack of consensus andacceptance of a system and/or method of assessing the value of outdoorand indoor media displays (e.g., billboards, posters, kiosks, videokiosks, on-line kiosks, and other publicly viewable media displays).More specifically, in recent years, the publicly viewable media displayindustries have made significant progress in delivering their publiclyviewable media displays. Unfortunately, the research industry that couldprovide exposure, frequency, and reach estimates has not kept pace withthese developments. Accordingly, publicly viewable media displayproviders have not been able to take advantage of media-buying changesand thereby increase market share against other measured media (e.g.,television, radio, and on-line). In fact, many potential clients do noteven consider publicly displayed media as there is no reliablemeasurement system to gauge exposure to the public.

Accordingly, it would be an advantage to provide accurate measurementsof exposure to public media displays in order to obtain exposure, reachand frequency statistics that can justify the value of such mediadisplays. However, there are unique problems with media displays. Radio,TV, and on-line media have the ability to assure a one-to-one or atleast a one-to-a limited number tracking of viewers. The very nature ofpublicly viewable media displays allows a variety of individuals to beviewing the same display at the same time. Furthermore, there may bemany more “channels” of publicly viewable media displays available in agiven geographic area than would be available over radio or television.

This increase in both viewers and publicly viewable media channelsprovides scalability issues. If every individual and every media displaymust be tracked, the cost of calculating accurate reach and frequencystatistics may become prohibitive. Previous media display solutions havetried to provide such an unscalable many-to-many solution. One suchprevious system has tried to provide radios in vehicles that respond toradios on media displays. However to be effective, such a systemrequires radios on every media display in a given environment to give anaccurate assessment. Leaving a radio off a particular media displaywould mean that media display has no chance of being assessed.Additionally, a substantial subset of individuals must carry radiosresponsive to the media display radios in order for this approach to beeven marginally effective.

Another ineffective solution has been the use of consumer surveys.Consumer surveys are ineffective because such surveys change respondentbehavior and are inherently inaccurate as respondents rarely rememberall the media displays they were exposed to. As many media providers arewell aware, some media displays can convey a message, and change arespondent's behavior, without the respondent actively recalling thatthey were exposed to the media display.

Other previous systems have involved tracking vehicles through variousmeans. While vehicle tracking is marginally effective, it has thedrawback of being less granular with regard to demographics. Over anextended period of time many vehicles will have different occupantshaving different demographics. It is difficult, if not impossible, toaccurately reconstruct the demographics of every passenger and/or driverof a vehicle. Additionally, under ordinary circumstances, vehicles arenot allowed in pedestrian-only areas, such as shopping malls and/orpedestrian thoroughfares.

Similar needs are found in other industries that are also interested indetermining their audiences so as to better plan for placement ofservices and other assets. Until now there has been a similar lack ofconsensus and acceptance of a system and/or method of assessing thevalue of placement of services and other assets.

Accordingly, there is a need for an accurate system and/or method fortracking the exposure of demographically identified individuals to mediadisplays. Such tracking should be operable over extended periods andshould track individuals both indoors and outdoors. It is desirable thatsuch a system and or method also be usable in other industries.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This summary is not intended to identify key features ofthe claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used as an aid indetermining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

The present invention is directed to utilizing monitoring devices fordetermining the effectiveness of various locations for an intendedpurpose. In one embodiment, the monitoring devices are used fordetermining the effectiveness of media displays. In this exemplaryembodiment, the monitoring devices are distributed to a number of studyrespondents for carrying on the person of the respondents, whosedemographics are known. The monitoring devices track the movements ofthe respondents. While various technologies may be used to track themovements of the monitoring devices and, thus, the respondents,preferably the monitoring device location tracking utilizes a satelliteposition system (“SPS”) such as the global positioning system (“GPS”) ordifferential global positioning system (“DGPS”). More specifically,those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate from thefollowing description that the present invention may utilize a varietyof satellite and radio frequency location tracking systems (e.g., GPS,Galileo, DGPS, GLOSNASS, WAAS, OMEGA, LORAN, VOR, etc.). Collectively,such systems will be referred to as positioning systems, for ease ofdescription. Regardless of the nature of the location tracking system,the movements of the respondent and monitoring device at some pointcoincide with the location of a number of media displays. Collecting geodata (movement data) from the monitoring devices and knowing thelocation of media displays makes it possible to determine which mediadisplays respondents were exposed to. This information allows theeffectiveness of the media displays to be rated based on reach andfrequency. Reach is a measure of how many respondents were exposed to amedia display, and frequency is a measure of the number of exposures (onaverage) per respondent.

If desired, the monitoring devices may be initialized with studyspecific data (e.g., geographic regions of a study, length of time of astudy, device behavior profiles, specific indoor zones to be tracked,etc.). In addition to utilizing SPS tracking, which requires access toSPS signals in order to determine a location, some exemplary monitoringdevices may also utilize radio frequency identification (“RFID”) signalsas an additional aid in determining a respondent's location. Otherpossible location determining components may be used in these monitoringdevices. Accelerometers, gyroscopes, inclinometers, barometers andcompasses may in some embodiments augment the location and movementtracking capabilities of the monitoring devices.

In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, the datagathered from the respondents may further be categorized by demographicsto allow for more detailed understanding of the effectiveness of mediadisplays.

In accordance with still other aspects of the present invention, themonitoring devices may be distributed to respondents in any one of avariety of different manners, such as by mailing the monitoring devicesto the respondents or in some way using a common carrier and/or courierto have them delivered to the respondents.

In accordance with additional aspects of the present invention,preferably, the effectiveness of media displays is determined using apost-processing server after geo data has been obtained from a pluralityof data sources, i.e., monitoring devices. The geo data representslocations along the path of travel of at least one respondent. Thelocations are matched to the locations of media displays. Theeffectiveness of such media displays is determined based on the numberof matches between geo data locations and media display locations. Ifdesired, prior to such a determination, the geo data is analyzed and anyerroneous data (e.g., out-of-tabulation data) is removed. Theeffectiveness of the media displays is then rated by determining thereach and frequency of the media displays.

In accordance with still additional aspects of the present invention,preferably, geo data is enhanced with other data to enhance accuracy.Both complete and incomplete geo data can be enhanced with other data.One source of other data is a geographic information system (“GIS”)database. Geo data accuracy can be enhanced by GIS data by locating arespondent on an adjacent street when the geo data places the respondentnear, but not on, the street, for example. Additionally, the geo datamay be “groomed” by conventional location data grooming methods tofurther enhance accuracy.

In accordance with other aspects of the present invention, preferably,the post-processing server determines media display effectiveness byobtaining geo data specifying the locations traversed by a monitoringdevice and matching the monitoring device locations with a number ofmedia display locations (e.g., by determining whether the monitoringdevice traversed within a threshold distance of a media displaylocation). Matches between monitoring device locations and the mediadisplay locations establish that the respondent carrying the monitoringdevice was exposed to the media displays. The geo data may be obtaineddirectly from the monitoring devices or in the alternative may beobtained from intermediary devices such as download servers that obtainthe geo data from the monitoring devices. In addition to retrieving geodata describing the locations and movements of a respondent, in anexemplary embodiment of the present invention, device data is alsogathered. The device data may be gathered directly from the monitoringdevices themselves or, as noted above, through intermediary devices suchas download servers. Device data may comprise monitoring devicesdiagnostic data, monitoring device status information, etc.

In accordance with yet other aspects of the present invention,preferably, the geo data is periodically stored (“geo data points”). Forcomparison purposes, lines between these geo data points are calculated.In one embodiment of the present invention, straight lines arecalculated. Alternatively, curved lines based on the progression of geodata points are calculated. Additionally, the geo data points may beused to calculate movement speed, i.e., velocity.

Still further, in accordance with another aspect of the presentinvention, the geo data may be groomed to increase its accuracy.Potential grooming methods include adding DGPS data to the geo data,merging partial geo data locations with known data, and/or ascribingadditional geo data locations from known data.

In accordance with further aspects of the present invention, preferably,geo data is analyzed to locate anomalous data (e.g., data in incorrectform and/or data describing a highly unlikely location, etc.). Anomalousgeo data may be stored for subsequent processing. Subsequent processingof anomalous and non-anomalous geo data is used to determine confidenceratings for monitoring device locations, i.e., geo data points.

In addition to determining exposures, reach, and frequency of mediadisplays in yet further embodiments of the present invention, the reachand frequency ratings are categorized in accordance with thedemographics of respondents. Also, processing the geo data may beprocessed to determine gross rating points (“GRPs”) and daily effectivecirculation ratings for each media display.

In still further embodiments of the present invention, a survey ofrespondent's recall of media displays is obtained and processed.Processing is such that a respondent's recall is collated torespondent's geo data. In addition to recall, if desired, a survey of arespondent's purchasing behavior may be obtained and processed. Again,processing is such that a respondent's purchases are collated in somemanner with the respondent's geo data. Processed recall and purchasingsurveys are useful in rating the effectiveness of media displays.

In accordance with alternative aspects of the present invention,information other than media display effectiveness for existing mediadisplays is determined. For example, the potential effectiveness of alocation that could have a media display is determined. In accordancewith the invention, such a determination can be made by post processinggeo data specifying a plurality of locations traversed by a monitoringdevice in a geographic region in accordance with a target level of mediadisplay exposure and a budget. All potential locations that fall withinthe budget are then matched to the geo data locations to determine foreach of the potential locations whether the monitoring device would havebeen exposed to a potential media display at each of the potentiallocations. The result determines which locations would have had the mostexposure. In additional embodiments, reach, frequency, GRPs, and dailyeffective circulation may be factored in when determining the optimalplacement for a media display.

In accordance with other alternative aspects of the present invention,the geo data is used for location usage planning without regard to mediadisplays. First, geo data specifying locations that have been traversedby monitoring devices within a geographic region are determined. Next,desired traffic (e.g., movement) characteristics for a desired locationare selected. The geo data locations are then examined to determinetheir traffic characteristics. The established traffic characteristicsof the geo data locations and the desired traffic characteristics arecompared to determine whether any of the geo data locations conform tothe desired traffic characteristics. The geo data may in someembodiments include the locations along lines between geo data points.Such an embodiment allows for the planning of retail locations,services, and the like.

In accordance with still other aspects of the present invention,preferably, the monitoring devices operate periodically to obtain SPSdata by determining which satellites are available, identifying at leastsome of the available satellites and storing data of at least some ofthe satellites along with a date and time. When SPS data is unavailable,preferably monitoring devices formed in accordance with this inventionreduce power usage.

In accordance with yet still other aspects of this invention, inaddition to including SPS location determination components, alternativemonitoring devices formed in accordance with this invention includeother types of location determining components such as RF locatingcomponents (e.g., transponders, receivers, transmitters, RFID devices,etc.).

Alternate embodiments of monitoring devices formed in accordance withthis invention decrease power usage when a motion sensing componentindicates that a threshold time has passed with no movement of themonitoring device. Preferably, such monitoring devices stop trying toacquire SPS and/or other location information as there is no need tocontinually acquire this information by immobile monitoring devices. Onesuitable motion sensing component is a trembler device.

Still other alternate embodiments of monitoring devices formed inaccordance with this invention determine a projected life of themonitoring device's power source and change the period of acquisition ofSPS and/or other location data based on a projected life of the powersource. Such embodiments allow a device whose battery power is almostexhausted to continue acquiring useful information over a period of time(such as a study period) during which data is desired.

Yet still other embodiments of monitoring devices formed in accordancewith the present invention include additional location determiningcomponents such as a radio frequency (“RF”) location determiningcomponent. Suitable RF location determining components are RFtransponders, transmitters, and/or receivers that can be used to eithergather additional location information, or in the case of a transmitterto provide identification information to a receiver at a known location.Of course, additional non-RF location determining components also may beincluded in such embodiments.

As will be readily appreciated from the foregoing summary, the inventionprovides enriched location based information by tracking respondentspaths of travel and analyzing the resulting path of travel data todetermine the amount of traffic passing predetermined chosen locations.If desired, the traffic information can be categorized according todemographics.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing aspects and many of the attendant advantages of thisinvention will become more readily appreciated as the same become betterunderstood by reference to the following detailed description, whentaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for monitoring publicly viewablemedia displays formed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a monitoring device for tracking arespondent's movements formed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a download server for receiving data from amonitoring device formed in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a post processing server for processinginformation received from download servers formed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 5 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a monitoring routineresident in a monitoring device formed in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 6 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a device analysissubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 5.

FIG. 7 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a movement analysissubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 6.

FIG. 8 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a power savingsubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 6.

FIG. 9 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a battery-processingsubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 8.

FIG. 10 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a locationdetermination subroutine suitable for use in FIG. 5.

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating interactions between a monitoringdevice, a download server, and a post processing server for determiningmedia display effectiveness statistics in accordance with the presentinvention.

FIG. 12 is an overview flow diagram illustrating an initializationroutine resident in a download server formed in accordance with thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a monitoring devicedownload routine resident on a download server formed in accordance withthe present invention.

FIG. 14 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a post processingroutine resident on the post processing server for further processinginformation from monitoring devices and the download servers formed inaccordance with the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an overview flow diagram illustrating an accuracy enhancinggeo data grooming subroutine suitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 16 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a location matchingsubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 17 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a tabulation statisticssubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 18 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a media display ratingsubroutine suitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 19 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a recall and purchasingrating subroutine suitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 20 is an overflow diagram of a media planning rating subroutinesuitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 21 is an overflow diagram of a non-media planning rating subroutinesuitable for use in FIG. 14.

FIG. 22 is an overview flow diagram illustrating a reach and frequencyanalysis subroutine suitable for use in FIG. 20.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

The detailed description which follows is in terms of processes andsymbolic representations of operations by conventional computingcomponents, including processors, memory storage devices for theprocessor, connected input and output devices. These described processesand operations may utilize conventional computing components as well asmore specialized components in a heterogeneous distributed computingenvironment, including remote file servers, computer servers, and memorystorage devices. Each of these conventional distributed computingcomponents may be accessible by a processor via a communication network.

FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a system 100 for determining thereach and frequency of a respondent's exposure to publicly viewablemedia displays. While the system 100 generally operates in a computingenvironment comprising individual computer systems, some of which may beinterconnected over a network (such as the Internet, publicly switchedtelephone network, or others), it will be appreciated by those ofordinary skill in the art and others that the system 100 could equallyfunction with a single standalone computer system. The system 100 shownin FIG. 1 includes a monitoring device 200, satellite positioning system(“SPS”) satellites 105, a media display 150, a download server 300, apost processing server 400, and a geographic information system (“GIS”)database 125. It will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in theart and others that a conventional GIS database 125 may reside in thepost processing server 400 or may reside on a separate device. Themonitoring device 200, download server 300, and post processing server400 are further described below in relation to FIGS. 2, 3 and 4,respectively. Additionally, while for ease of illustration only onemonitoring device 200, one download server 300, one post processingserver 400, and one media display 150 have been shown, it will beappreciated that many such devices and/or displays may be included inthe system 100 or that the download server 300 and the post-processingserver 400 may reside on the same device. FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 illustrateexemplary devices suitable for determining the exposure to and reach andfrequency of media displays. The devices are only examples and are notintended to suggest any limitation as to the scope of use orfunctionality of the invention. Neither should the devices beinterpreted as having any dependency requirement relating to any one ora combination of components illustrated in the examples.

To better illustrate the interaction of, and purposes for, the devicesof FIG. 1, the following exemplary embodiment is presented. In thisexemplary embodiment, using the devices of system 100, the effectivenessof the multiple media displays 150 is rated using multiple monitoringdevices 200, the download server 300, and the post processing server400. The monitoring devices 200 are distributed to a number of studyrespondents. Each respondent carries the monitoring devices, which, inturn, track the movements of the associated respondent. The movement ofthe respondents carrying the monitoring devices at some point results inthe respondents being exposed to media displays 150, i.e., therespondents reach positions in their movements where they can visuallyor audibly receive the information provided by the media displays. Asthe respondents move, the monitoring devices store the tracking datadetermined by the monitoring devices (“geo data”). The geo datacollected by the monitoring devices is used to determine which mediadisplays the respondent was exposed to by comparing the geo data withlocation data defining the location of the media display. Morespecifically, the monitoring devices 200, in the embodiment of theinvention illustrated in FIG. 1, download their geo data to one or moredownload servers 300. The download servers 300 forward the downloadedgeo data to the post-processing server 400. The post processing server400 processes the geo data using data from the GIS database as necessaryand compares the processed geo data with data defining the location ofthe media displays 150 to determine the exposure of the respondentscarrying the monitoring devices to the media displays. The effectivenessof the media displays is then rated by the post-processing server 400determining the reach and frequency of the media displays. Reach is ameasure of how many respondents were exposed to the media displays, andfrequency is a measure of the number of exposures (on average) perrespondent.

The invention is operable in numerous general purpose or specialcomputing device environments or configurations other than the exemplaryone shown in FIG. 1. Examples of well known computing devices,environments, and/or configurations that may be suitable forimplementing the invention include, but are not limited to, personalcomputers, server computers, laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, network PCs, minicomputers, mainframecomputers, and handheld computers operable as stand alone devices and indistributed computing environments.

FIG. 2 depicts several key components of an exemplary monitoring device200. Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate thatthe illustrated monitoring device 200 may include more or lesscomponents than those shown in FIG. 2. However, it is not necessary thatall of these generally conventional components be shown in order todisclose a monitoring device suitable for practicing the presentinvention. It will also be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in theart and others that a monitoring device 200 suitable for practicing theinvention may have many form factors, e.g., as a small device carried byan individual, a vehicle mounted device, an added component of anotherdevice, etc. As shown in FIG. 2, the monitoring device 200 includes aninput/output (“I/O”) interface 230 for connecting to other devices (suchas the download server 300). Those of ordinary skill in the art andothers will appreciate that the I/O interface 230 includes the necessarycircuitry for such a connection, and is also constructed for use withthe protocols required by a particular implementation of the invention.

The illustrated monitoring device 200 also includes a processing unit210, a clock 225, an RF location component 240, a SPS interface 245, atrembler 215, a directional unit 235, and a memory 250 allinterconnected along with the I/O interface 230 via a bus 220. The clock225 provides time information to the monitoring device 200. The RFlocation component 240 is an optional component that is responsive toradio signals. The RF location component may include a receiver forreceiving location information from another RF device or a transmitterthat broadcasts the location of the monitoring device. Alternatively,the transmitter could transmit a monitoring device identification codefor receipt by RF receivers located proximate to the media display 150.Still further, exemplary RF location components 240 include active orpassive radio frequency identification (“RFID”) components and RFtransponders as well as receivers and transmitters.

The SPS interface 245 is a component that is operative to receive andrecord SPS signals. More specifically, the SPS interface includes a SPSengine well known in the art that receives signals from SPS satellites,pseudolites or related devices and uses the signals to determine thelocation of the SPS engine and, thus, the device incorporating the SPSengine. SPS is a generic reference to any satellite/pseudolite basedlocation determining system.

The trembler 215 is an optional motion sensing component that detectswhether the device with which the trembler is associated, in this case amonitoring device, has been handled, jostled, or in some other mannermoved. Tremblers 215 are useful for determining when a device has notmoved for extended periods of time so that power saving measures can beenabled.

The directional unit 235 is an optional non-RF directional componentthat does not require outside broadcasts or signals to determine eitherposition or movement in a direction. Some exemplary directional unitsinclude compasses, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, altimeters,inclinometers, and the like.

The memory 250 generally comprises at least one of a random accessmemory (“RAM”), a read-only memory (“ROM”) and a permanent storagedevice, such as a flash memory (e.g., flash RAM), other non-volatilesolid-state memory (i.e., EEPROMs, FPGAs, etc.), disk drive, tape drive,optical drive, floppy disk drive, or some combination thereof. Thememory 250 stores an operating system 255, a monitoring routine 500,geographic location data (“geo data”) 260, device data 265, and a storeof profile data 270. Profile data 270 may include respondent demographicinformation, device operation requirements (location sampling speed,power expectancy, distance to indicate movement of device, etc.) andRFID zone locations (regions where RFID communications will be turned onto augment SPS data). It will be appreciated that these softwarecomponents, particularly those that change from time to time, such asrespondent demographic information, RFID zone information, etc., may beloaded from another device, such as a personal computer (not shown) orthe download server 300 into the memory 250 of the monitoring device 200via the I/O interface 230.

Although an exemplary monitoring device 200 has been described thatgenerally conforms to a conventional general purpose computing device,those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that themonitoring device 200 may take on a variety of other forms.Additionally, while some embodiments or the present invention providefor a monitoring device 200 that is operative in an outdoor environment,it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art and othersthat the monitoring device 200 is capable of operation a number ofenvironments, including environments heretofore inhospitable to SPSmonitoring. Thus, the invention should not be construed as limited tothe form shown in FIG. 2 with or without the optional components or tothe environments described above.

FIG. 3 depicts several key components of an exemplary download server300. Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate thatthe download server 300 may include many more components than thoseshown in FIG. 3. For ease of illustration, many conventional componentslikely to be included in an actual download server 300, such as akeyboard, on-off switch, etc. are not illustrated. It is not necessarythat all of these generally conventional components be shown in order todisclose an enabling embodiment for practicing the present invention.The exemplary download server 300 shown in FIG. 3 includes an I/Ointerface 330 for connecting to other devices (such as a monitoringdevice 200 or post processing server 400). Those of ordinary skill inthe art and others will appreciate that the I/O interface 330 includesthe necessary circuitry for such a connection, and is also constructedfor use with the necessary protocols required by a specific embodimentof the invention.

The download server 300 also includes a processing unit 310, an optionaldisplay 340 and a memory 350 all interconnected along with the I/Ointerface 330 via a bus 320. The memory 350 generally comprises RAM, ROMand a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive, tape drive,optical drive, floppy disk drive, flash RAM, other non-volatilesolid-state memory, or combination thereof. The memory 350 stores anoperating system 355, an initialization routine 1200, a download routine1300, a respondent ID database 360, a monitoring device database 365,and monitoring device (“unit”) files 370. It will be appreciated thatthese software components may be loaded from a computer-readable mediuminto memory 350 of the download server 300 using a drive mechanism (notshown) associated with the computer-readable medium, such as a floppy,tape, or DVD/CD-ROM drive or via the I/O interface 330.

Although an exemplary download server 300 has been described thatgenerally conforms to a conventional general purpose computing device,those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that thedownload server may take a variety of other forms, including, but notlimited to, database servers configured for information processing.Thus, the download server should not be construed as limited to the formshown in FIG. 3 FIG. 4 depicts several key components of an exemplarypost processing server 400. Those of ordinary skill in the art andothers will appreciate that the post processing server 400 may includemany more components than those shown in FIG. 4. For ease ofillustration, many conventional components likely to be included in anactual processing server 400, such as a keyboard, on-off switch, etc.are not illustrated. It is not necessary that all of these generallyconventional components be shown in order to disclose an enablingembodiment for practicing the present invention. The exemplary postprocessing server 400 shown in FIG. 4 includes an I/O interface 430 forconnecting to other devices (such as a download server). Those ofordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that the I/Ointerface 430 includes the necessary circuitry for such a connection,and is also constructed for use with the necessary protocols required bya specific embodiment of the invention.

The post processing server 400 also includes a processing unit 410, anoptional display 440 and a memory 450 all interconnected along with theI/O interface 430 via a bus 420. The memory 450 generally comprises aRAM, a ROM, and a permanent mass storage device, such as a disk drive,tape drive, optical drive, floppy disk drive, flash RAM, othernon-volatile solid-state memory, or combination thereof. The memory 450stores an operating system 455, a post processing routine 1400, arespondent geo database 460, a media location database 465, and anaugmented DGPS database 470. It will be appreciated that these softwarecomponents may be loaded from a computer-readable medium into memory 450of the post processing server 400 using a drive mechanism (not shown)associated with the computer-readable medium, such as a floppy, tape orDVD/CD-ROM drive or via the I/O interface 430.

Although an exemplary post processing server 400 has been described thatgenerally conforms to a conventional general purpose computing device,those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that apost processing server 400 may take on a variety of other forms,including, but not limited to, database servers configured forinformation processing. Thus, the post processing server should not beconstrued as limited to the form shown in FIG. 4.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, and 11 (described below), the monitoringdevices of the display media assessment system 100 are used to trackdemographically identified individuals (“respondents”). The tracking orgeo data is used to determine the exposure of the respondents to variousmedia displays.

A flow chart illustrating an exemplary monitoring routine 500implemented by the monitoring devices 200 is shown in FIG. 5. Prior tostarting monitoring, all necessary variable data, such as a respondent'sdemographic data, RF zone data, profile data, is downloaded to themonitoring device.

The monitoring routine 500 begins at block 501 and proceeds to block 503where the monitoring device is initialized. Next, in block 505 themonitoring device's status as having just been turned on is logged.Exemplary information that may be logged at block 505 are the date,time, and location (if available) of the monitoring device 200. Next, inblock 510 the status (expired or not expired) of a watchdog timer islogged. Then in block 512 the watchdog timer is reset. While notnecessary to all embodiments of the present invention, the watchdogtimer is used to restore device function in the case of a crash or othererror. The operation of the watchdog timer is discussed in greaterdetail below in connection with a device analysis subroutine 600 shownin FIG. 6. Processing next proceeds to the device analysis subroutineblock 600, where the monitoring device 200 is analyzed. After the deviceanalysis subroutine 600 returns, processing proceeds to decision block515 where a determination is made whether sufficient time has passed (asspecified in the current profile data 270) to check for the currentlocation of the monitoring device 200. If it was determined that alocation check should not be made, processing cycles back to the deviceanalysis subroutine 600, or in the alternative, may wait until alocation check is desired/required. In any case, after it has beendetermined that a location check should be performed, processingcontinues to a geo data gathering subroutine 1000. An exemplary geo datasubroutine 1000 is illustrated in FIG. 10 and described below. As willbe better understood from the description below, the geo data gatheringsubroutine gathers data about the location of the monitoring device 200.After the geo data gathering subroutine 1000 returns, processingcontinues to decision block 520, where a determination is made whetherthe location of the monitoring device was found during the pass throughthe geo data gathering subroutine 1000. If a location was not found,processing cycles back to the device analysis subroutine 600. If,however, in decision block 520, it was determined that a location wasfound, processing continues to block 525, where the geo data iscompressed. Those of ordinary skill in the art and others willappreciate that compressing data reduces memory requirements and mayincrease the power life of the monitoring device, as less power isneeded to store a smaller amount of information. However, it will alsobe appreciated that compressing the geo data is an optional step thatmay be unnecessary if sufficient memory and power are available. Next,in block 530, the geo data is stored for later retrieval. Processingthen loops back to the reset watchdog timer block 512. The monitoringroutine 500 continues processing until interrupted by either turning offthe monitoring device 200, or the monitoring device 200 loses power.

In order to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the measurements atthe monitoring device 200, monitoring device analysis (block 600) isincluded to routinely assess the status of the monitoring device 200.Such analysis not only provides greater confidence that the dataproduced by the monitoring device 200 is accurate, it also can be usedto enhance the monitoring time and accuracy of the monitoring device 200by prolonging the useful life of a power supply by controlling thefrequency of data gathering which is determined by the selected deviceprofile data 270.

As noted above, the monitoring routine 500 may include an optionaldevice analysis subroutine 600. FIG. 6 is an exemplary illustration of asuitable device analysis subroutine 600. Subroutine 600 begins at block601 and proceeds to a movement analysis subroutine block 700. A suitablemovement analysis subroutine 700 is illustrated in FIG. 7 and describedin detail below. Briefly, the movement analysis subroutine 700determines whether the monitoring device has moved a certain distancefrom a previous location. Failure of the monitoring device to moveindicates that a respondent has remained at a particular location for anextended period of time. Routine 600 then continues to a power savingsubroutine 800. A suitable power saving subroutine 800 is illustrated inFIG. 8 and described in detail below. In general, the power savingsubroutine 800 causes the monitoring device 200 to operate in a moreefficient manner, while still taking into account thedesired/anticipated monitoring functions that will be required of themonitoring device 200. Next, in block 610, a determination is madewhether any anomalous device events have been detected. Anomalous deviceevents are any unexpected/out-of-bounds values present in the devicedata. Any detected anomalous device events are then saved in block 615.Next, in decision block 620, a determination is made whether thewatchdog timer has expired. The watchdog timer expires if it is nottimely reset during cycles through the monitoring routine 500 (FIG. 5)described above. Expiration of the watchdog timer is evidence of acatastrophic error in the monitoring device 200. More specifically, asnoted above and shown in FIG. 5, the loop in which the watchdog timer isreset is always cycling. Expiration of the watchdog timer indicates afailure of the monitoring routine 500 to cycle and, hence, theoccurrence of a catastrophic error. In such a scenario, a complete“reboot” of the monitoring device 200 is desirable. In one exemplaryembodiment of the invention, rebooting acts as a power cyclinginstruction to the device such that monitoring routine 500 restarts atblock 501. Note that in monitoring routine 500 at block 510, thewatchdog timer status is logged. Therefore, a reboot instruction (block630) would be logged at block 510. If, however, in decision block 620,it was determined that the watchdog timer has not expired, processingcontinues to block 699, where the device analysis subroutine returns toits calling routine.

As noted above, the data gathering operation of the monitoring device200, can be enhanced by including a movement analysis subroutine 700. Anexemplary movement analysis subroutine is illustrated in FIG. 7. Asdescribed more fully below, the movement analysis subroutine determineswhether the monitoring device 200 has moved a sufficient distance towarrant indicating that the monitoring device and thus a person usingthe monitoring device has moved to a new location. Analyzing themovement of the monitoring device makes it possible to determine dwelltime (time spent at a particular location) so as to enhance theassessment of any media displays in the area that may have captured arespondent's attention.

The movement analysis subroutine 700 begins at block 701 and proceeds toblock 705, where a measure is made of the distance between a referencelocation and the current location of the monitoring device. Thereference location is the last location that the monitoring device 200was at that was sufficiently different from a previous referencelocation to warrant recording a new location. As discussed more fullybelow, the sufficiency determination is based on a threshold that can beset to different levels in accordance with the selected profile data270. It should be noted that when the monitoring device is first turnedon there may not be a reference location. Therefore, the first locationis always a reference location, as well as the current location. Next,in decision block 710, a determination is made whether the distance fromthe reference location is above a threshold. This threshold may be afixed threshold or an adaptive threshold. A fixed threshold distance isspecified in the profile data 270.

An adaptive threshold depends on factors other than just distance, suchas the respondent's location and/or movement patterns and/or speed. Forexample, if the monitoring device determines that a respondent is movingat vehicle speeds (e.g., over 10 mph) the threshold distance may beincreased (to indicate vehicle movement). Alternatively, if a respondentis in a pedestrian only area that is rich in media displays, thethreshold distance may be lowered, to provide for a more granulardetermination of a respondent's exposure to media displays. Whether ornot a pedestrian is located in an area rich in media displays is readilydetermined by storing information about such locations in memory andcomparing the current location of the monitoring device to suchlocations. Like the fixed threshold distance, the selected profile data270 contains movement parameters with which to set an adaptivethreshold.

Returning to decision block 710, if it was determined that the distancefrom the reference location was not above the threshold, processingcontinues to block 725, where the ending time of the time spent at thereference location is updated with the current time. If, however, indecision block 710 it was determined that the distance was above athreshold, processing continues to block 715, where a new location andtime are recorded as geo data. Additionally, in block 720, the newlocation is stored as the new reference location. In either case, afterblock 720 or block 725, the movement analysis subroutine 700 proceeds toblock 799, and returns to the calling routine.

As noted above, preferably, the device analysis subroutine 600 (FIG. 6)also includes a power saving subroutine 800. Power savings is ofsignificant value because power sources (batteries, fuel cells,capacitors and the like) make a contribution to the size and/or weightof a monitoring device 200. Accordingly, a small power source isdesirable yet a small power source usually means less power. Themonitoring device offsets the lower of power resulting from the use ofsmaller power sources by more efficiently determining when to use moreand when to use less power. A power saving subroutine 800 suitable foraccomplishing this result is illustrated in FIG. 8 and described next.

The power saving subroutine 800 begins at block 801 and proceeds to abattery processing subroutine block 900 (illustrated in FIG. 9 anddescribed below). After the battery processing subroutine 900 ends, thepower savings subroutine 800 proceeds to block 810 and then block 815,where a determination is made whether the current location is inside anRFID (radio frequency identification) zone. An RFID zone is a zonewithin which the monitoring device is within communication range of anRFID device, i.e., a device that transmits RF signals or receives RFsignals. Whether the monitoring device is within an RFID zone can bedetermined by storing the location of such zones in the memory of themonitoring device and periodically comparing the current location of themonitoring device with the stored locations of such zones. Thedetermination is made by periodically checking the device profile data270 for any listed RFID zones.

If, in decision block 815, it was found that the current location isinside an RFID zone, the optional RFID functionality of the monitoringdevice 200 is turned on in block 820. If, however, in decision block 815it was found that the current location is not inside an RFID zone, theoptional RFID functionality of the monitoring device 200 is turned offat block 830. If in decision block 815 a determination could not be madeas to whether the current location is inside or outside an RFID zone,the status is unknown and the current RFID status is maintained in block825. Enabling the RFID functionality only when the monitoring device islocated in zones that have been designated as RFID zones (in profiledata 270) allows the monitoring device 200 to use less power. Less poweris used because the RF location component 240 is not enabled when it isnot needed (i.e., when the monitoring device is outside of RFID zones).Typical RFID zones will be areas with media displays, but with little orno SPS coverage (e.g., subway stations, malls, stadiums, etc.). In anycase, after turning on, turning off, or maintaining the current RFIDstatus, processing continues to block 835, where a determination is madewhether SPS signals are blocked.

Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that whilethere are a plurality of SPS signal broadcasting devices (satellites,pseudolites, etc.), signals from these devices may be blocked onoccasion. This is particularly common underground and within substantialbuildings. If SPS signals are blocked, useful location (geo) data cannotbe obtained. An adverse effect on the power source of a monitoringdevice will occur if the monitoring device 200 constantly attempts toreacquire SPS signals when in areas where such signals are blocked.Therefore, if in decision block 840 it is determined that SPS signalsare blocked, in block 850 the monitoring device is instructed to use aless aggressive SPS signal acquisition profile. Less aggressive, maymean using a lower power signal acquisition method, or trying to acquireSPS signals less often, or trying to acquire SPS signals for shorterperiods of time. If in decision block 840 it was found that SPS signalswere not blocked, in block 845 the monitoring device 200 is instructedto use a more aggressive (e.g., more powerful signal acquisition methodor more frequent checks for SPS signals or checks for longer periods oftime per check) SPS signal acquisition profile. After block 845,processing continues to block 899 where the power saving subroutine 800returns to its calling routine.

If the monitoring device 200 was instructed in block 850 to use a lessaggressive SPS signal acquisition profile, processing proceeds todecision block 855 where a test determines if a threshold time limit haspassed. The time limit may be established by a predetermined number ofcalls to the power saving subroutine 800, or after a predeterminedperiod of time has passed. If the threshold time limit has passed, thepower saving subroutine 800 proceeds to block 845 where a moreaggressive SPS signal acquisition routine is instituted. In this regard,those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that a SPSsignal may be temporarily blocked. The monitoring device 200 would beless accurate if required to permanently employ a less aggressive SPSsignal acquisition profile once such a profile is initiated, hence thedecision (block 855) to periodically change the profile back to moreaggressive SPS signal acquisition.

If in decision block 855 it was determined that the threshold time limithas not passed, then in decision block 860 a further determination ismade whether any movement of the monitoring device has occurred within apredetermined period of time. This determination is made by monitoringthe output of the trembler 215 (FIG. 2) to determine if the tremblerdetected movement within the predetermined period of time. Thepredetermined period of time is continued in the profile data. Anexemplary range is 2-15 minutes. This range is merely meant as anexample and not meant to limit the range of predetermined periods oftime employed by actual embodiments of this invention. The trembler actsas an indicator of whether the monitoring device 200 is actually in use.If, for example, the monitoring device has been placed on a bedsidetable, indicating that the associated respondent is no longer exposed tomedia displays, it is more power efficient to adjust the monitoringdevice so that the monitoring device consumes less energy. Accordingly,if in decision block 860 movement is detected, processing continues toblock 899 where the battery saving subroutine 800 returns to its callingroutine. If, however, in decision block 860 it was determined that therehas been no movement detected by the trembler within a threshold time,processing continues to block 865 where the monitoring device 200 isplaced in a sleep mode until the trembler detects movement. After thetrembler detects movement, processing cycles back to the batteryprocessing subroutine 900.

As will be readily understood by those skilled in the art and others,the monitoring device 200 is used by respondents over extended periodsof time. Accordingly, it is desirable to continually assess whetherthere is sufficient battery (fuel cell, capacitor, etc.) power to keepthe monitoring device 200 in operation for the anticipated duration ofthe study. Such battery assessment can be used to control power usageand, thus, extend the operation time of the monitoring device. FIG. 9 isan exemplary illustration of a suitable battery processing subroutine900 directed to accomplishing this result.

The battery processing subroutine 900 begins at block 901 and proceedsto block 905 where the device checks its anticipated battery usagerequirements. Next in block 910, the monitoring device 200 determinesavailable battery power. After which, in decision block 915 adetermination is made whether a different device profile is needed. Thisdetermination compares both the current battery power availability, theanticipated battery usage requirements, and the indicated profile forthe current study of the monitoring device 200. For example if thecurrent level of battery power availability is below the anticipatedusage requirements, a lower power profile may be substituted for thecurrent profile. Conversely, a higher power profile may be substitutedif a available battery power is greater than expected. For example, ifthe current study of the monitoring device is monitoring an urban areafor a two-week period, the determination of whether a different deviceprofile is needed will depend on current battery power availability andthe anticipated battery usage requirements of the monitoring device 200and whether it will be able to adequately provide location informationwithin an urban environment for the remainder of its monitoring period.

If in decision block 915 it was determined that a different deviceprofile is not required, the battery processing subroutine 900 proceedsto block 999 where it returns to its calling routine. If however, it wasdetermined in decision bock 915 that a different device profile wasneeded, in block 920 a better device profile is determined. For example,if the thresholds that have been set for the movement analysissubroutine 700 have resulted in repeated location checks that do notindicate that a monitoring device has moved from a referenced location,a more power efficient profile that causes the monitoring device to makeless frequent location checks is chosen. Alternatively, if the movementanalysis subroutine 700 finds that the threshold distance is alwaysexceeded, a profile that increases the threshold distance to try andcapture a “flighty” respondent is chosen. Next, in block 925, theprofile of monitoring device 200 is changed and processing proceeds toblock 999 where subroutine 900 returns to its calling routine.

Although an extensive analysis of the operation of the monitoring device200 is desirable, such an analysis is not essential to embodiments ofthe invention. The main purpose is to accurately track respondents. Asgenerally noted above, the monitoring device 200 achieves this result bycontinuously determining a respondent's location, i.e., the location ofa person carrying or in some other way associated with a monitoringdevice, and periodically storing the results of the determination.Monitoring device location is determined using either just SPS or SPS incombination with RF. RF location may include an RF interrogator mountedin the monitoring device 200 for interrogating an RF transponder and/oran RF transmitter for transmitting identification data for receipt by RFreceivers when a monitoring device is sufficiently close to a receiverassociated with a media display. Thus, depending on implementation, RFlocation determination can be considered somewhat equivalent to SPSsatellite location determination, particularly if the monitoring device200 receives information from prepositioned RF transponders in a mannersimilar to the way the monitoring device receives information fromsatellites. In this regard, those of ordinary skill in the art andothers will appreciate that there are technical differences between SPSsatellites, pseudolites (RF devices that, while not satellites,broadcast SPS satellite-type information) and RF transponders. Becauseof the similarity and in order to avoid unnecessary duplication, forpurposes of the location getting subroutine 1000, all received locationsignals are referred to as satellite signals. This in no way is meant tolimit the present invention to only utilizing satellites for determininglocation.

The location getting subroutine 1000 (FIG. 10) begins at block 1001 andproceeds to block 1005 where it is determined if satellites are in view,i.e., if the monitoring device is receiving satellite signals. Then, inblock 1010, the satellites whose signals are being received areidentified. Next, in decision block 1015, a determination is madewhether there are a sufficient number of satellites to obtain alocation. One of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciatethat different implementations of the present invention will require adifferent number of satellites with which to provide suitably accuratelocation information. In general, conventional SPS engines requirereceiving signals from four or more satellites if an accurate locationis to be determined. However, less than four satellite signals may beused if less accuracy is acceptable, or if there are additional knownpieces of information (e.g., altitude, latitude or longitude). Theseadditional pieces of information could come from other directional units235 of a monitoring device 200. RFID systems and pseudolite systems mayrely on less than three signals and still provide suitably accuratelocation information. One RFID and pseudolite signal source may besufficient if elevation information is not required. Similarly, a singlesatellite signal may be sufficient if combined with known data, such asGIS information obtained from the GIS database 125.

If in decision block 1015 it was determined that signals from enoughsatellites (or other devices) are being received, in block 1020 thecurrent location of the monitoring device 200 is computed and stored.Next, in block 1025 information identifying the satellites that wereused to determine the current location are stored. Additionally, inblock 1030, the current date and time are stored. Optionally, in block1035 other relevant data, such as satellite signal level, individualpseudo-ranges of satellites (raw signal), augmentation data (e.g. WAASor Wide Area Augmentation System data) and carrier phase (phase of radiowave from satellite) is determined, i.e., detected. In block 1040, theother relevant data is stored. Finally, in block 1099, the currentlocation is returned to the calling routine. If, however, in decisionblock 1015, it was determined that not enough satellite signals wereavailable, processing proceeds to block 1045 where informationidentifying the satellites that signals were received from are stored.Then in block 1050, the date and time are stored. As an insufficientnumber of satellite signals were available to calculate a location,processing continues to block 1098 where an indication that no locationwas found is returned to the calling routine. Regardless of which pathis followed, after the location or no location result is returned, thelocation getting subroutine 1000 returns to the calling routine.

The RF location component 240 of the present invention may be operativein a number of different manners. In one exemplary embodiment, the RFlocation component 240 “chirps” out a low power signal with anidentification that is then identified by one or more receiving RFdevices at or near media displays. The strength of the signal may bemonitored by the receiving RF device, such that only a signal ofsufficient strength indicates an exposure to the media display. In analternate embodiment, media displays have RF devices that broadcast alow power chirp that identifies of their location, such that themonitoring device 200 is able to record locations even when a SPS signalis not present. Similarly, the strength of the broadcast is monitored bythe monitoring device 200, such that only a signal of sufficientstrength indicates presence at a particular location (or is of such lowpower that any reception indicates presence at a particular location).In still another embodiment, the media displays have RF devices thatbroadcast a chirp or beacon of an identifier, such that the monitoringdevice 200 is then able to record identifiers of specific mediadisplays. Again, the strength of the broadcast is monitored by themonitoring device 200, such that only a signal of sufficient strengthindicates presence at a particular location (or is of such low powerthat any reception indicates presence at a particular location).

The operation of the display media assessment system 100 (FIG. 1) of thepresent invention will be better understood by reference to FIG. 11,which illustrates an exemplary sequence of interactions between devicesof the system 100. As noted above, the display media assessment system100 illustrated in FIG. 1 includes a monitoring device 200, a downloadserver 300 and a post processing server 400.

Turning to FIG. 11, a media display assessment sequence is initiatedwhen a monitoring device 200 receives initialization information 1105from a download server 300 or other suitable device. As noted above, theinitialization information or data may include respondent demographicdata, RF zone data, profile data, etc. After the monitoring device 200has been initialized, monitoring can begin. Monitoring may commenceimmediately or after a period of time. In any case, after the monitoringdevice is initialized, i.e., ready to gather geo data, the monitoringdevice analyzes itself 1110 and then proceeds to gather geo data 1115.Geo data gathering continues until the geo gathering is interrupted dueto power source wearing out or the monitoring device being instructed tostop gathering geo data (e.g., because an OFF key is enabled). After geodata gathering is complete, or at periodic intervals, gathered geo datais downloaded from the monitoring device 200 to a download server 300.More specifically when the monitoring device 200 is ready to download,device data 1120 is first transferred from the monitoring device 200 tothe download server 300. The device data includes data gathered by themonitoring device 200 about itself (e.g., device diagnostic data, powerconsumption data, etc.). The download server 300 adds 1125 the downloaddevice data to any previously received device data. For example, ifmultiple monitoring devices 200 store device data, the download server300 would gather all this information together. After the device data1120 has been downloaded to the server, the monitoring device 200downloads geo data 1130 to the download server 300. The downloaded geodata is accumulated 1135. Next, the monitoring device 200 and thedownload server 300 may engage in a bidirectional exchange of diagnosticdata 1140, i.e., the monitoring device receives and responds to specificdiagnostic requests from the download server 300. The download server300 then analyzes the diagnostic data 1145.

Preferably, data from multiple monitoring devices 200 is downloaded tothe download server 300 in the manner described above. After downloadingthe device and geo data 1150 are downloaded from the download server 300to the post processing server 400, the post processing server 400performs a plurality of functions. Initially the post processing servergrooms 1155 the geo data to improve its accuracy. Next, the geo data isaggregated 1160 into queryable results. The aggregated geo data isfurther processed 1165 using information derived from the GIS database125. Locations in the processed geo data are then matched 1170 to knownlocations of publicly viewable media displays. Next, the post processingserver generates in tabulation (“in-tab”) and out of tabulation(“out-of-tab”) statistics 1180 which are used to determine whatinformation is accurate and should be preserved. In-tab data is datathat is said to have come from an accurate source (e.g., awell-functioning monitoring device 200 and a cooperating respondent).Out-of-tab data is said to be unusable for some reason (such as from amalfunctioning monitoring device 200, corrupted data, and/or anuncooperative respondent). The geo data and matched locations are thenfixed 1185 to cover any out-of-tab data that has been removed. The fixeddata is used to determine reach and frequency 1190 statistics for themedia displays. The reach and frequency statistics are then used toprovide rankings and gross impressions 1195 for the media displays.

As will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art and others,FIG. 11 illustrates one exemplary set of interactions between thedevices of system 100. It will also be appreciated by those of ordinaryskill in the art and others that additional interactions and selectionsmay be employed by actual embodiments of the invention. Additionally, itwill be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art and othersthat the actions illustrated in FIG. 11 may be performed in otherorders, or may be combined. For example, geo data may be downloadedbefore device data to the download server 300. Thus, FIG. 11 and theforegoing description should be taken as illustrative, not limiting.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 3 and 11, the exemplary embodiment of thedisplay media assessment system 100 described herein includes a downloadserver 300 that is used to retrieve information from monitoring devices200. Additionally, the download server is operative to initializemonitoring devices 200. A flowchart illustrating an exemplary deviceinitialization routine 1200 and a data download routine 1300 formed inaccordance with the present invention are shown in FIGS. 12 and 13,respectively, and described next.

The monitoring device initialization routine 1200 begins at block 1201and proceeds to decision block 1205 where a determination is madewhether the device to be initialized is a new device, or one that hasbeen used previously. If it was found in decision block 1205 that a newmonitoring device 200 is to be initialized, processing continues toblock 1210 where new firmware is downloaded to the monitoring device200. If however in decision block 1205 it was determined that apreviously initialized monitoring device 200 is to be initialized,processing continues to block 1220 where any device and/or geo datastored in memory is cleared. Regardless of whether a new device or apreviously initialized monitoring device 200 is being initialized,processing continues to block 1215 where the monitoring device's 200operation is tested, i.e., a series of operational tests not part of thepresent invention are performed. Next, in decision block 1225, if anyerrors were detected when testing the operation of the monitoring device200, processing continues to block 1235 where the monitoring device 200is flagged as defective, after which processing ends at block 1299. Ifhowever in decision block 1225 it was determined that no errors weredetected during the operational tests in decision block 1230, adetermination is made whether the power supply is sufficient for themonitoring device 200. The sufficiency decision in decision block 1230may be affected by known and/or projected parameters of how much power amonitoring device 200 may need in an upcoming study (as stored inprofile data 270). For example, measurements of the voltage andtemperature of a battery power source, can be used to determine anexpected level of performance given known average power consumption ofmonitoring device 200. Alternatively, a fixed voltage level at aparticular temperature may be used as a threshold to determinesufficiency of a power supply, for example, 2.8 volts at 70 degreesFahrenheit (room temperature). Voltage below this level would beregarded as indicating insufficient power. If in decision block 1230 itwas determined that the power supply is sufficient, processing continuesto block 1240 where the device is flagged as having enough power. Next,in block 1245, study specific data is added to the profile data 270 ofthe monitoring device 200. In one exemplary embodiment of the presentinvention, study specific data includes designated zones where RFIDmeasurements are to be taken. Other types of study specific data mayinclude listings of anticipated satellites that should be available,device profiles for determining a location in a metropolitan area,frequency of location inquiries, duration of study, anticipation of timespent indoors or outdoors, and/or end date and time of study. Next, inblock 1299, the initialization routine 1200 ends. If in decision block1230 it was determined that the power supply was insufficient, then inblock 1250 the monitoring device 200 is flagged as not having enoughpower and processing again ends at block 1299.

Besides initializing the monitoring device 200, as shown in FIG. 11, thedownload server also retrieves information from the monitoring device200 after a study. This retrieval may be accomplished by anyconventional way computing devices communicate with one another(wireless, wire connected, networked, telephone, etc.).

An exemplary download routine 1300 suitable for use by the downloadserver 300 is illustrated in FIG. 13. FIG. 13 begins at block 1301 andcontinues to block 1305 where geo data is retrieved from the monitoringdevice 200. Next, in block 1310 device status data is retrieved from themonitoring device 200. Processing then continues to block 1315 wheresupplemental device diagnostics are performed. As noted above withregard to FIG. 11, supplemental device diagnostics include communicationwith the monitoring device 200 to determine the current diagnosticstatus of the monitoring device. In decision block 1320 a determinationis made whether any of the received geo data, device status data or theresults of the supplemental device diagnostics resulted in anomalousdata, data errors or an insufficiency of data. If so, the error orcondition is flagged in block 1325 and the anomalous data errors orindication of insufficiency of data is saved to a designated locationfor further processing. After the anomalous data or data errors havebeen flagged, processing ends at block 1399. If in decision block 1320no data errors or insufficiencies were found processing cycles to block1399 and ends.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1, 4 and 11, the exemplary embodiment of themedia display assessment system 100 described herein includes a postprocessing server 400 that is used to process and assess the dataretrieved from monitoring devices 200 by download servers 300. Aflowchart illustrating an exemplary post processing routine 1400suitable for implementation by the post processing server 400 is shownin FIG. 14. The post processing routine 1400 begins at block 1401 andproceeds to block 1405 where data is retrieved and saved from anydownload servers storing downloaded information obtained from themonitoring devices 200. After the data has been saved, then processingcontinues to subroutine block 1500 where the geo data is groomed. Anexemplary routine for grooming geo data is illustrated in FIG. 15 anddescribed in detail below. After the geo data has been groomed,processing continues to block 1410 where geo data from multiplemonitoring devices 200 is aggregated. In one exemplary embodiment, thisaggregation entails combining geo data from multiple respondents in thesame vicinity to improve knowledge about that area and satellitecoverage.

Next, in block 1415, the geo data is further processed with informationobtained from the GIS database 125. The GIS processing may be iterativein that multiple passes may further improve the accuracy of the geodata. Accordingly in decision block 1420 a determination is made whetherthe geo data can be further improved with GIS and if so, processingreturns back to block 1415. Processing with information obtained fromthe GIS database includes eliminating all possible ambiguous SPSlocation solutions that are not on roads/sidewalks at surface altitude.For example, if the wavefront from a SPS satellite intersects a road atonly one location, processing using GIS database information determinesthat the monitoring device 200 is at that location on the road indicatedby the information gathered from the GIS database 125. Ambiguous SPSlocation solutions may further be reduced using data regarding the speedrequired to move from a previous known location to a new location.

When the geo data has been sufficiently optimized using the GIS database125, processing continues to subroutine block 1600 where locations ofpublicly viewable display media are matched to locations where themonitoring devices 200 have been. A suitable location matchingsubroutine 1600 is illustrated in FIG. 16 and described in detail below.

Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that whilethe location matching subroutine 1600 described below discusses matchingmonitoring devices locations to the locations of publicly viewable mediadisplays, the location matching subroutine 1600 may also be used tomatch other types of locations. For example, the location matchingsubroutine 1600 may be used to match monitoring device locations topotential media display locations as well as other types of locations.

Next, in block 1425 the content of matched media displays is identified.In one exemplary embodiment, media content identification involvesidentifying which media displays were matched and then looking up whatmedia content was displayed at the times the monitoring device and thedisplay locations matched. Processing continues then to block 1430 wheresupplemental measures are added to the data being processed supplementalmeasures include, but are not limited to, size, angle, lighting, time ofday, blocking objects, clutter, and position. Next, in decision block1435 a determination is made whether the location matches should berefined given the additional information received with regard toexisting location matches and the supplemental measures. Supplementalmeasures may change the threshold for exposure to media displays. Forexample, an unlighted billboard at night would have a much lowerthreshold of exposure than the same billboard during the daytime.Similarly, if a building partially blocks a media display from aparticular angle, a supplemental measure noting this effect would lowerthe threshold of exposure at certain locations. If the addedsupplemental measures information refines the location matches,processing cycles back to subroutine 1600. If on the other hand indecision block 1435 a determination is made that location matches do notneed to be refined, processing continues to a tabulation (“tab”)analysis subroutine 1700. As noted above, tab analysis is thedetermination of which data should remain as part of an accurateassessment of the exposure and reach and frequency of media displays. Asuitable tab analysis subroutine 1700 is illustrated in FIG. 17 anddescribed in detail below. Processing then continues to a ratingssubroutine. Four illustrative ratings subroutines 1800, 1900, 2000 and2001 are illustrated in FIGS. 18, 19, 20 and 21, respectively, anddescribed in detail below. After the ratings subroutines are completedthe post processing routine 1400 ends at block 1499.

As noted above, preferably, the geo data retrieved from monitoringdevices 200 is refined in grooming subroutine 1500, an example of whichis illustrated in FIG. 15. More specifically, those of ordinary skill inthe art and others will appreciate that geo data grooming may beaccomplished in many ways. Subroutine 1500 merely illustrates anexemplary series of steps that form one type of geo data grooming.Subroutine 1500 begins at block 1501 and proceeds to block 1505 whereDGPS data is added (possibly from the augmented DGPS database 470) toimprove (augment) the geo data received from the monitoring devices.Next, in block 1510 any partial geo data (e.g., SPS data obtained usingless than four satellites) is analyzed to see whether it fills anypotential holes in routes determined from the augmented geo data. Nextin block 1515, confidence ratings are computed for individual geo datapoints. Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciatethat different confidence levels may be ascribed to geo data pointsdepending on the strength of signals and/or length of time a monitoringdevice 200 was exposed to a satellite signal. The confidence levels areused to further refine the geo data and intermediate points where geodata may not have been recorded. Next in block 1520 the geo data isfurther augmented by ascribing geo data locations from known data. Forexample, if a geo data location is found at the entrance of a tunnel andat the exit from a tunnel over a relatively short period of time,predicted points within a tunnel (or urban canyon) can be ascribed tothe monitoring device 200 to establish respondent exposure to a mediadisplay located in the tunnel. In block 1525, any anomalous geo data issaved for potential further processing. Finally, in block 1599,subroutine 1500 returns to its calling routine.

An exemplary location matching subroutine 1600 suitable for use by thepost processing server 400 is illustrated in FIG. 16 and described next.In order to determine whether a respondent was exposed (or at least hadthe opportunity to be exposed) to a media display, it is necessary todetermine if the respondent was in the vicinity of the media display.Accordingly, location matching subroutine 1600 compares respondentlocations determined by geo data to media display locations. Locationmatching begins at block 1601 and proceeds to looping block 1605 wherefor all location zones (e.g., zones where someone might be exposed to amedia display), are tested for matching. In block 1610 the geo data isexamined to detect all routes that cross the location zone at differenttimes from a direction (or directions) of interest. As the respondentmay be moving at different speeds, at a given distance and a given speedthere would have not been enough time for an exposure at a particulardistance. Accordingly, in one embodiment of the invention a respondenthas been exposed to a small media display when walking within fifty feetof the display, but not exposed when driving by the media display at 35mph. This may be determined by examining the geo data and the locationof the media display in question Next, redundant zone entries areeliminated (block 1615). The redundant zone entries are only eliminatedif they indicate repeated entry and exit from the zone, which wouldindicate a location respondent who is close to a zone boundary. Theredundant entries elimination performed by block 1615 is to addhysteresis to counter redundant zone crossings introduced by arespondent's movement. Then in block 1620, additional information suchas the number of zone crossings and the speed of these crossings issaved. At looping block 1625, processing loops back to 1605 unless alllocation zones have been processed, in which case the location matchingsubroutine 1600 returns to its calling routine at block 1699.

Not all information gathered by a monitoring device 200 is always goingto be useful information. Non-useful information should be removed fromthe study if it is determined that it was inaccurately obtained. Thedetermination of what information is non-useful is known as tabulationor tab analysis.

An exemplary tab analysis subroutine 1700 is illustrated in FIG. 17. Thetab analysis subroutine 1700 begins at block 1701 and proceeds tolooping block 1705 where for each monitoring device's data (or at leasteach study of monitoring if more than one person used the samemonitoring device) the following is performed. In decision block 1710, adetermination is made whether there were any device failures. Thisinformation is included in the stored anomalous data. Device failure maybe indicated by an indication that a monitoring device was producingerratic results, or that watchdog timer events were logged. Any datafrom monitoring devices having a failure indication is removed from theaggregated data sample in block 1725. Next, the aggregated data isexpanded to cover the removed data in block 1730. Those of ordinaryskill in the art and others will appreciate that the aggregated data maynot have to be expanded in all circumstances.

If in decision block 1710 it was determined that there were no devicefailures, processing continues to decision block 1715 where adetermination is made whether an uncooperative person used the device.Those of ordinary skill in the art and others will appreciate that if arespondent takes a monitoring device 200 and simply leaves it on anightstand during the study period any geo data gathered would not beindicative of the respondent's exposure to publicly viewable mediadisplays (except in the unlikely event that the person did not leave thevicinity of their nightstand for the full study period). Suchrespondents are designated uncooperative. Other examples will also beapparent to those of ordinary skill in the art and others, such asrespondents never turning on a device. Accordingly, if in decision block1715 it was determined that an uncooperative respondent used the device,processing continues to block 1720 where the uncooperative person's datais saved. Storing this data allows the uncooperative respondent to beincluded in the results of the study should it later be determined thatthe respondent actually was cooperative and potentially for otherreasons as well. Processing then would continue to block 1725 andproceed as before. If however in decision block 1715 it was determinedthat a cooperative person (e.g., someone who turned on the device andcarried it during a study) used the device, then processing continues tolooping block 1735. Processing also proceeds to looping block 1735 afterblock 1730. At looping block 1735 processing loops back to looping block1705 unless all devices data have been iterated through, in which caseprocessing continues to block 1799 where subroutine 1700 returns to itscalling routine.

As noted above, a number of different rating subroutines may be employedby embodiments of the present invention. Those of ordinary skill in theart and others will appreciate that the geo data that is obtainable fromthe monitoring devices 200 may have applications other than strictlydetermining the exposure, reach and frequency of publicly viewable mediadisplays.

In a first exemplary rating subroutine 1800 publicly viewable mediadisplays are assessed with regard to exposure, reach and frequency.Subroutine 1800 begins at block 1801 and proceeds to reach and frequencyprocessing subroutine 2200. An exemplary reach and frequency processingsubroutine 2200 is illustrated in FIG. 22 and described below. Next,processing continues to block 1810 where gross rating points (“GRPs”)are also calculated based on the geo data. Next in block 1815 dailyeffective circulation ratings are determined based on the geo data Theratings are then returned to the calling routine in block 1899.

FIG. 19 illustrates an exemplary ratings subroutine 1900 for ratingrespondent recall and purchases. Subroutine 1900 begins at block 1901and proceeds to block 1905 where respondents of interest are selected.These respondents of interest may be individuals selected in anarbitrary or random manner, individuals who are part of a particulardemographic group or groups, or who have been exposed to particularmedia displays. Next, in block 1910 a survey of respondents' recall ofmedia displays is processed to determine which media displays therespondents recall. Then, in block 1915 a survey of respondents'purchasing behavior is processed. Next, in block 1920 these processsurvey results are tabulated to form recall and purchase ratings withregard to matched publicly viewable media displays. Routine 1900 thenreturns at block 1999 to its calling routine with the recall andpurchase ratings.

The previous discussions and ratings described above relate to existingmedia displays. In contrast, FIG. 20 illustrates an exemplary mediadisplay planning subroutine 2000 for rating locations for potentialmedia displays. Media planning subroutine 2000 begins at block 2001 andproceeds to block 2005 where target reach, frequency, and budgetinformation is selected. Next in block 2010 a set of locations forpotential media displays is selected. Then a reach and frequencysubroutine 2200 that determines the reach and frequency of eachpotential media display location is executed. An exemplary reach andfrequency subroutine is illustrated in FIG. 22 and described below.After reach and frequency for each of the potential media displaylocations has been determined, in block 2015, the reach and frequency ofeach location is compared to the target reach and frequency previouslyselected. Next, in block 2020 the locations' ratings are determinedbased on how closely they match the target reach and frequency. Mediaplanning rating subroutine 2000 then ends at block 2099 returning theoptimum location or locations and ratings of those locations to thecalling routine.

FIG. 21 illustrates an exemplary non-media planning (e.g., road trafficanalyses, real estate development, service placements, etc.) subroutine2100. The illustrated non-media planning subroutine 2100 begins at block2101 and proceeds to block 2105 where desired traffic (either vehicle orpedestrian) characteristics are selected. Next, in looping block 2110for all known locations and routes the following is performed. A currentlocation and route is compared to the desired traffic characteristics toform a rating in block 2115. Next in looping block 2120 processing loopsback to 2110 unless all known locations and routes have already beeniterated through in which case processing proceeds to block 2125. Inblock 2125, a determination is made of the optimally rated location(s)and/or route(s) in view of the desired traffic characteristics.Non-media planning rating subroutine 2100 then ends at block 2199returning all optimal location(s) and/or route(s).

FIG. 22 illustrates an exemplary reach and frequency determinationsubroutine 2200. The illustrated reach/frequency determinationsubroutine 2200 begins at block 2201 and proceeds to outer looping block2205 where for all demographics the following is performed. First, atinner looping block 2210 for all locations the following is performed.At block 2215, a determination is made of which respondents were exposedto a zone of interest (reach). Next in block 2220, a determination ismade of the average number of times a respondent is exposed to a zone ofinterest (frequency). Processing then continues to the inner loopingblock 2225 which returns to block 2210 unless all location zones havebeen iterated through in which case processing continues to demographiclooping block 2230 which loops back to looping block 2205. If alldemographics have been looped through, then processing continues toblock 2299 where the reach and frequency determination subroutine 2200returns to its calling routine.

While the term demographics has been used to describe different types ofrespondents, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in theart and others that sociographic and psychographic categorizations mayalso be used with the present invention. Accordingly, instead ofcategorizing respondents based on age, gender, economic level andeducational background, it may be possible to categorize respondents inother categories (e.g., early adopter, yuppie, baby boomer, etc.). Thus,demographics should be understood with regard to the present inventionto also include sociographic and psychographic categorizations.

While illustrative embodiments have been illustrated and described, itwill be appreciated that various changes can be made therein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention.

1. Apparatus for determining the demographics of individuals(“respondents”) passing a predetermined geographic location, comprising:(a) a plurality of monitoring devices for tracking the paths of travelfollowed by a plurality of respondents whose demographics are known,each of said respondents associated with a respective one of saidplurality of monitoring devices, each of said plurality of monitoringdevices comprising: (i) a satellite positioning system SPS engine fortracking the movement of the related respondent along the path of travelfollowed by the respondent and generating satellite data that representsthe path of travel followed by the respondent; (ii) a processing unitfor processing the path of travel satellite data; and (iii) a memory forstoring said path of travel satellite data; and (b) a server for: (i)collecting the path of travel satellite data from each of the monitoringdevices; and (ii) comparing the collected path of travel satellite datawith a predetermined geographic location to determine the demographicsof the respondents passing the predetermined geographic location.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the data stored in the plurality ofmonitoring devices is downloaded to the server.
 3. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein said monitoring devices also include a radio frequencypositioning mechanism to track the paths of travel of said respondents.4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said monitoring devices alsoinclude an accelerometer to track the paths of travel of saidrespondents.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said monitoringdevices also include a gyroscope to track the paths of travel of saidrespondents.
 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said monitoringdevices also include a compass to track the paths of travel of saidrespondents.
 7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said monitoringdevices also include an altimeter to track the-paths of travel of saidrespondents.
 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the satellite datastored in the monitoring devices is collected by downloading thesatellite data to the server at predetermined intervals.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the satellite data includes partialsatellite data.
 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the satellite datais stored as geo data and wherein the collected path of travel satellitedata is geo data.
 11. The apparatus claim 1 wherein the server alsoanalyzes the collected path of travel satellite data to determine thenumber of respondents that pass the predetermined geographic location(“reach”).
 12. The apparatus of claim 11 wherein reach is categorizedaccording to the demographics of the respondents.
 13. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the server also analyzes the collected path of travelsatellite data to determine how often respondents pass the predeterminedgeographic location (“frequency”).
 14. The apparatus of claim 13 whereinfrequency is categorized according to the demographics of therespondents.
 15. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the server alsoanalyzes the collected path of travel satellite data to determine thedwell time of the respondents in the predetermined geographic location.16. A computer-implemented method of determining the demographics ofindividuals (“respondents”) passing a predetermined geographic location,the method comprising: (a) storing geo data in a plurality of respondentmonitoring devices as said plurality of respondent monitoring devicesmove along respective paths of travel, each of said respondentmonitoring devices associated with a respondent having knowndemographics, at least a portion of said geo data derived from asatellite positioning system (SPS), said stored geo data representingthe movement of said plurality of respondent monitoring devices alongsaid respective paths of travel; and (b) downloading said geo datastored in said plurality of respondent monitoring devices to a postprocessing server for determining the demographics of respondentspassing a predetermined geographic location by comparing the geo datarepresenting the movement of said plurality of respondents monitoringdevices along said respective paths of travel with data representing thepredetermined geographic location.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: analyzing said geo data to determine if said geo data iserroneous; and removing any erroneous data from said geo data prior todetermining the demographics of respondents passing said predeterminedlocation.
 18. The method of claim 16, further comprising augmenting saidgeo data with external data to enhance accuracy.
 19. The method of claim18, wherein said external data is geographic information system (“GIS”)data.
 20. The method of claim 16, wherein said geo data is grouped inaccordance with the demographics of said respondents.
 21. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising initializing said monitoring devices withstudy specific data.
 22. The method of claim 21, wherein said studyspecific data includes RF zones.
 23. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising obtaining device data.
 24. The method of claim 23, whereinsaid device data is obtained from said plurality of monitoring devices.25. The method of claim 24, wherein device data obtained from saidplurality of monitoring devices is downloaded to said post processingserver.
 26. The method of claim 16, wherein said plurality of locationsthat track the movement of said plurality of monitoring devices includelocations located along calculated lines extending between geo datalocations.
 27. The method of claim 26, wherein the calculated lines arestraight lines.
 28. The method of claim 26, wherein the calculated linesare curved lines.
 29. The method of claim 16, wherein said geo dataincludes velocity data describing the rate of movement of said pluralityof monitoring devices.
 30. The method of claim 16, further comprisinggrooming said geo data to enhance accuracy.
 31. The method of claim 30,wherein grooming said geo data comprises adding DGPS data to said geodata.
 32. The method of claim 31, wherein grooming said geo datacomprises determining additional geo data locations from datarepresenting known locations.
 33. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising identifying and storing anomalous geo data.
 34. The method ofclaim 16, further comprising determining confidence ratings for saidmonitoring device locations.
 35. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising enhancing the accuracy of said geo data using GeographicInformation System (GIS) data to enhance said geo data.
 36. The methodof claim 16, further comprising entering demographic data into each ofsaid plurality of monitoring devices.
 37. The method claim 16 furthercomprising analyzing the collected path of travel satellite data todetermine the number of respondents that pass the predeterminedgeographic location (“reach”).
 38. The method of claim 37 furthercomprising categorizing reach according to the demographics of therespondents.
 39. The method of claim 16 further comprising analyzing thecollected path of travel satellite data to determine how oftenrespondents pass the predetermined geographic location (“frequency”).40. The method of claim 39 further comprising categorizing frequencyaccording to the demographics of the respondents.
 41. The method ofclaim 16 further comprising analyzing the collected path of travelsatellite data to determine the dwell time of the respondents in thepredetermined geographic location.